This coming Wednesday, February 6, 2013 educators, students, parents and supporters of public education nation-wide will take action in support of Garfield High School teachers and all teachers in Seattle Public Schools who are refusing to administer the MAP test.

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MAP used for formative assessment is a great diagnostic tool. It helps teachers see where kids strengths and weaknesses are to help guide instruction, remediation, and enrichment. It should not be used for summative assessment for kids or teachers. We should only be boycotting the tests that unfairly label, kids, teachers, schools, and public education as a whole.

I agree but MAP has become one of several standardized tests being given to students that takes away from instructional time. In my district students are given DRA x 3, CMT, MAP, and countless practice exercises throughout the year to prepare. And our students continue to do poorly year after year. What does that tell you?

And what happened to professionals, teachers, being able to assess their own students? Why do we rely on tests to tell us what a professional can assess on their own? Have you always relied on standardized tests to get to know your students strengths and weaknesses?

Teachers should already be able to figure out strengths and weaknesses without having to send students off to the computer lab to take a test. The MAP is certainly not great diagnostic tool for my students for IEPs. Well, maybe the MAP is good at diagnosing their moods. For example, a student of mine (behavior disorder/ gifted) has scored both in the 97th %ile and the 6th%ile in the same school year. Another student jumps from percentiles below 4 to above 30, in accordance to her moods. They are not the only two examples of drastically changing scores. I have other students who have made enormous strides both academically and socially, but have flat scores.

I said in the above paragraph that maybe the MAP was good at diagnosing moods. Well, I as a human teacher, am far better. I can easily observe when my students are having a hard day. If I am doing assessments and the student is being uncooperative, sullen, whiny, silly, sleepy, sickly, or whatever negative, I can offer the student another time to complete the assessment. Always, the students will either pull themselves together or ask for another time. The whole point of assessments is to get useful information for students, parents, and teachers.

The MAP has absolutely never given me any information about students that I either did not already know, or could easily learn through classroom based assessments.

Whether we agree with MAP testing or not, it will be replaced by CCSS testing which will resemble MAP. However, the geniuses who created CCSS testing say that it will correlate with the standards. Does that make it exceptable? If not, looks like we have a bigger battle ahead.

Teachers in Seattle schools are boycotting the MAP test. Their concerns: the test is not aligned with the curriculum, it costs teachers and students valuable time and money, and this year, the MAP results are linked to teacher evaluations in Seattle!!! Students often don’t take the test seriously because it is not linked to any grade or credit…Seattle teachers have been threatened with a 10-day suspension without pay. Teachers want to meet with the district to address the issues, but so far, Superintendent Banda has not responded.

Join people around the country in support of the MAP boycott! Take a photo of you and your colleagues in RED…then send it to one of the links below! Talk to your colleagues, family and friends.